Help! Part Two
by SilverWolf7
Summary: The Jones family learn the hard way that keeping secrets from a family member about something very important, is not a good thing to do.
1. Chapter 1

Yep! This is the start of the next part to my story epic, Help!

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Help!

Part 2

Chapter One

Everything was chaos.

Martha was off in some other part of the Royal Hope Hospital, seeing to unimportant things as far as he knew, Tish was busy crying her heart out in his arms and Donna was trying, unsuccessfully, to get his attention.

He did not want to go into the room they were in front of. He didn't know if it was a reaction to the botched suicide attempt of Leo, or if it was because if he did he'd have to see Francine and face her grief. He'd done that before and things hadn't gone too well.

He had no idea apart from what Tish had told him what had taken place, and he was both itching to know and dreading it.

Would they blame him? Would they look to him to try and understand why someone would try to kill themself? God, he hoped not. He was feeling a lot better, or at least he had been a few short minutes ago...now he was feeling cold and shaky.

He did not need either a lecture or a bunch of questions about this type of thing fired at him. He didn't want this to be happening at all.

Too bad that Tish had just made it part of his personal timeline. If it wasn't he could have accidentally arrived in Leo's room and stopped him in the first place. He couldn't do that now, as it was already a fixed point for him.

Why did the bad things always happen to or around him? Couldn't he ever be happy for over a few hours at a time.

Tish lifted her head and stared at the door to the room which held her mother and brother. She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes.

"Sorry. This is really bad," she said and he nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry to hear what happened."

She nodded and leant into him, and he let her, because at least it was keeping him upright too. His vision was going blurry, but there weren't any tears in his eyes, and a high pitched buzzing sound was in his ears.

He turned a bit too fast when Donna tapped his shoulder and the world spun around him.

She was telling him something, but the buzzing was so loud, he couldn't catch any of the words she said. He managed to utter a small "Wha..." before his sight abandoned him entirely.

His last memory of that time was falling. He didn't even know if he managed to hit the ground or if Donna had kept him upright. He may have even dragged poor Tish, who really didn't deserve that, to the ground.

Donna had gotten so fed up of waiting for the Doctor to tell her what happened, she couldn't help but go up to him and tap his shoulder. He turned to face her, his skin a weird shade between white and grey, and swayed slightly.

"Oh god, he's going to pass out," the woman who was holding the Doctor stated, changing her grip to keep him upright.

Donna couldn't help it. She looked into his rather vacant eyes and asked him if he was alright. He gave her a short "Wha..." as an answer, not even getting the whole word out, and then she watched his eyes roll up in his head and he slumped towards her.

The two women holding him up glanced at each other, gave awkward smiles, before they begun shuffling him towards the nearest seat. Leaving him in one, they soon had grabbed the seats on either side of him, Donna making sure his head was leaning against her shoulder, so it wasn't straight back against the wall, or he slumped forwards.

"Hi," she said in introduction. "I'm Donna. Currently travelling with this skinny lump."

The woman smiled back, held out her hand and they shook in greeting. "Tish Jones. Well, it's Letitia really, but everyone calls me Tish. I'm Martha's sister. She's talked of you."

Oh! So, this was Tish. "Yeah, Martha talks quite a bit about you and your mum who I met the other day and your brother, Leo. Never thought I'd actually meet any of you though."

Tish got wide eyes at the mention of her brother, took in that they were in a hospital and put as much of this as she could. "What happened to Leo?"

Donna wasn't expecting the reply she got, but it proved a lot about the Doctor's sudden odd behaviour and waking her up to get here.

"He tried to hang himself...I don't understand why. Why would he do this to us?"

She shook her head. "I dunno. I'm sorry. Maybe he'll tell you himself one day." Donna knew she wouldn't be much help in this situation. She'd led a pretty crap life too, spending most of it being let down and told she'd never amount to anything, or be good at pretty much anything, but she was more a person to prove people wrong then someone who gave in to the pressure and took their own life.

She still didn't understand how the Doctor could have tried, even given what she knew of his world and people all being dead. He was just so...full of life.

And speaking of the Doctor...he began to stir against her, groaning loudly as he gained consciousness. He felt her shoulder for a few seconds, as unobtrusively as he could, before snorting loudly.

"Donna, why am I slobbering all over your clothes?"

She sharply looked down, to see he was right, he was slobbering all over her clothes.  
"Oi! See, this is what I get for being nice to you, Spaceman, you ruin my stuff! You passed out. If it weren't for me, you'd be an undignified lump on the ground being walked all over, and this is the thanks I get. You leave saliva all over my clothes."

He blinked up at her, rubbed at his mouth with a sleeve and grimaced. "Sorry. Don't know what happened. Turned around too fast I guess, it made me go all woozy."

Sighing loudly, trying to sound as put out as possible even though they both knew she wasn't truly angry, she patted his shoulder, before smiling down at him. "No harm done. You didn't hit the ground or anything. Us two girls got you to a seat." She pointed at Tish, and he went pale again as he remembered where and why they were there.

"Oh god, have you found anything else out?"

"No," Tish replied to him, and Donna sighed loudly.

"You could have said something instead of going off on your own and not giving me a clue as to where we were, Doctor..."

He buried his head in her shoulder and shuffled closer, and she wondered if it was out of a need for comfort or a need for warmth. He was a bit colder than normal. He mumbled a short sorry into her neck before sighing, and the heat of the move made her sigh too.

"So, we wait then? Is there anyone else in there?" the Doctor asked, moving himself so he was seating up properly in his own chair.

"Mum, Leo and Shonara. Oh, and Jeremy was called in about 5 minutes after I got here. He's in there too. Not too happy either."

Donna watched the Doctor's face at that, knowing the last thing he wanted was to see Jeremy right then. He'd been avoiding making the call to him for the past day as far as she had observed. Yet again, time in the TARDIS tended to get wobbly.

She hoped not too wobbly in this case, because though he may hate it, it's done him a world of good to talk about things. Except, of course, when he went like this. Well, in his defence, this time he had an excuse.

A good one.

She remembered what it felt like after the Doctor decided off the top of his head to regenerate by drowning himself. Thankfully, Jack had stopped him then. She had no idea what she'd do except try to keep him out of trouble if he tried with only her as company.

A sudden flash of memory of him drowning in the flood after the Racnoss from the alternate world she had created in Shan Shen flashed through her mind. She reached out and grabbed his hand. Hopefully someone would always be around to stop him from giving up on life fully.

He squeezed her hand slightly, before going as still as he went. A still Doctor was not a right Doctor. "You okay?"

He sighed loudly and glared at her. "Someone I know just tried to kill themself. Yeah, I'm fine. It makes me feel happy..."

Her jaw dropped open. She knew he used sarcasm and dark humour sometimes when he was in a bad mood, but this was so completely not the right time for it. Tish must have been following her thoughts, because the next second a loud smack echoed along the busy corridor of the hospital and the Doctor was looking like he'd just had the worst news of his life told to him all over again.

"You deserved that," she said quietly, when the Doctor turned to her for what she could only presume was a defence. His face fell further than it already was, but he nodded.

"Yeah, maybe. Sorry. I don't take bad news well lately. I didn't mean that, Tish. I'm just...I'm trying to find a way to reason through this, and I'm coming up with blanks. I've never really been in this type of situation before. Well, not from..."

The rest of the sentence was obvious to her, but Tish looked a bit confused. Sighing, Donna took his hand and squeezed it again. "Yeah. Well, just so you know, this whole thing isn't making me too happy and I don't even know this Leo."

He looked at her and, a bit to her surprise, leaned back against her again and sighed into her neck. "Yeah. I never really...thought about it. You know, from someone knowing someone like this. I'm so sorry."

She didn't think there was one single conversation she had ever had in which every single thing each one of them said was 'yeah'. The Doctor was usually...wordier than this.

All conversation for quite a while stopped as they settled down into their separate and private worries. It wasn't until she heard the Doctor snuffling at her side that she realised he had fallen asleep and gotten her hair caught under his nose. She grinned at the sight and moved her hair out of his face, but hoped it didn't wake him. He was sleeping better but still was pretty much exhausted from stress and fear.

At least, she hoped that was it. He tended to sleep more the more depressed he is.

He only slept for an hour, before waking up on his own. By that time, Donna had been bored almost to sleep herself. Tish hadn't been too interested in talking and she knew no one else there.

"Anything happen?" he asked when he was sitting straight in his own seat again, grimacing at the crick in his neck.

"No," she and Tish said at the same time.

The Doctor grunted at that, got up and stretched. It was then that Martha showed up, looking tired and worried. Tish immediately jumped to her feet and went over to hug her sister. The Doctor sat heavily back down in his seat and rubbed at his neck. Donna smiled at him, hoping that he didn't take it in any way other than a calming gesture.

He smiled slightly back at her, which was a good sign. Martha nodded at them both, before taking the seat Tish had been on. Once again, silence fell among them.

Having been kept away from the room Leo had been put in since she had found out he had been brought there in the first place, Martha was relieved when her shift had ended and she was free to visit.

She had been working in A & E for the past few hours, sick with worry at what she would find out about Leo. For all she knew, he had suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. All she knew was that he had tried to hang himself, but that he was alive.

She had heard that her mum and sister were with him, and that his psychiatrist had been called in. She had managed to get hold of Tish between patients and gotten her to call the Doctor, but she hadn't been sure he'd show up until she got off and found him and Donna waiting with Tish.

Silence had been like a deep dark cloud around them for too long. Sighing loudly, Martha shook her head and got up. "Well, if no one else is going to do anything, I'm going to see how Leo is doing."

Tish grabbed hold of her arm and shook her head. "Martha, don't. Mum's screaming at anyone who enters. You haven't seen her like this before. She's scary."

"Trust me, she's not joking..." the Doctor replied, frowning slightly. "I am getting kind of bored with all the waiting though. Think I'd prefer the waiting then to go in there when your mother is in the mood she's in..."

Rolling her eyes, she nodded. "Well, your advice is noted. But I've been kept away from here long enough and I want to see my brother."

Ignoring Tish's pleas to leave the room alone, Martha walked up to the door, gave it a short knock, before poking her head inside. Her mum, regardless of what Tish said, wasn't screaming her lungs at anyone. She was sitting at Leo's side, holding her brother's hand and silently crying.

Jeremy was off to one side of the room, sitting in a chair. Both were silent.

"Hey. Just wondering how Leo is. We're getting pretty worried out here waiting."

Her mother looked up and frowned at her, before turning all her attention back on the still form on the bed. Leo was sleeping as far as she could tell. She knew he wasn't dead and he wasn't attached to anything, so it was probably a good thing she'd walked in when she had. Shonara was sitting in another chair, asleep, half draped across the bed.

Jeremy walked over to her and led her out the door again, coming out while he did and taking in the small crowd around the door. "Hmm, you haven't called."

For one second, Martha thought he was talking to her, but noticed the look of sheepish guilt on the Doctor's face. Martha brought his attention back to her. "Jeremy. How is he?"

"Sleeping at the moment. He's not very talkative when he's awake though. We can't know until he begins to talk if he suffered any lasting damage, and until then, we wait."

She nodded in response. While the Leo she knew from before the Year That Never Was differed slightly to the one after that time, it wasn't too bad a change. He smiled less often, but that had been it. There had been nothing to prepare them for him doing something like this.

He had still been him though. Her mum had changed quite a lot, as had she herself. Tish was a bit quieter, but still Tish. And her dad was the same guy as ever, if a lot more protective than he was before her parents originally split up.

"He's going to be on suicide watch tonight. He may be in here a few more days, depending on how...cooperative he is. He hadn't been up there for very long, but it was long enough to lose consciousness and stop breathing. If he's lucky, there won't be any damage done. Physically."

Leo was the only one out of the family who only went to the family sessions, and not singular ones too. Looks like that was about to change. Martha sighed. "Well, it was good while it lasted..."

"What was?" Tish asked, looking at her from where she was, now poking her head in the room to see how Leo was doing herself.

"Having one family member not needing psychological help."

Tish stared at her and frowned. "You're as bad as him!" her sister stated, pointing to the Doctor.

"Oi! Don't drag me into this any more than I already have been," he replied scowling at Tish with a look she rarely saw.

"You can suffer just as much as the rest of us! What do you know of this anyway?"

The hall suddenly went quiet and it was only then that Martha realised that it had been almost vacated of people since the last time she fully looked. She was either losing time, or too busy worrying to see straight. Either way did not please her at all.

Donna lunged for the Doctor, but he was already on his feet, towering over Tish and looking at her with one expression she knew pretty well. It was the look he got when he was in a mood to stop some evil in a bad way.

"A damn lot more than you do! What do _you_ know of it?"

Martha closed her eyes and shook her head. Tish didn't know. She had seen him try to get himself killed so many times she had lost count. The latest being a few weeks earlier when he tried to drown himself. In that case it would have been straight suicide. The other times he could have shaken it off as a noble sacrifice of himself for others to live. Either way, he was trying to get himself killed.

"I know this is your fault! If it wasn't for you, he'd still be happy and wouldn't be here."

Martha's eyes sprang open at that, and she turned to stare in wide eyed shock at her sister. She remembered blaming the Doctor when her family was being captured by the Master, how it had been his fault that it had happened. It hadn't been really, but at that moment she had told him much the same thing. But this...this was totally a different situation. Someone he had known had just tried to kill themself, something that would probably hurt the Doctor more than Tish realised.

The Doctor had gone completely still, except for a shaking that started and she didn't know whether he was going to hit Tish, or turn in the opposite direction and walk away.

In the end he did neither. Jeremy stepped in between the Doctor and Tish and took the Doctor back to the seat he had been in earlier. He turned to look at her. "Martha, could you get a blanket. He needs a bit of warmth right now."

Nodding, she went to the nearest supply closet, got one of the blankets and went back to where the others were waiting. She was just in time to see Donna smack Tish so hard Martha could hear it from where she was.

Right then, she was glad that Donna had done it, because she was tempted to herself.

"Here," she said, placing it around the Doctor herself. He looked bleakly at the floor, barely noticing her at all. "Doctor? You in there? Come on, Tish was just being silly. I don't blame you and he's my brother too."

"My fault..." he whispered to her, and Martha could feel tears in her eyes.

"No. It's not. Come on, listen to your doctor. It is not your fault. Leo did it. No one made him. And soon enough we'll know why."

"Easier," the Doctor replied, still looking at the floor instead of her. "It's just...easier."

Martha didn't ask, because she thought she understood what he was on about. Life for her had gotten more than a bit hard for her while she had been walking the Earth in the Year That Wasn't. She had spent every day not knowing whether or not she'd be found, killed, would starve. There had been so much uncertainty, there had been so much death, there had been so much wrong happening around her, it had completely changed her view not only of Time Lords and the Doctor himself, but of humans and what they were truly capable of.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tish replied, and Martha sighed loudly, shaking her head. It wouldn't end. She'd seen this type of arguing between Tish and Leo all the time.

"Tish, drop it. It's not the Doctor's fault."

Shaking her head, Tish glared at her. "If he hadn't decided on some stupid whim to take you with him, then Leo wouldn't have done this!"

The Doctor shook his head and grinned in a slightly crazy way. "What makes you think that?"

Martha turned to look at him. "Doctor, please, just drop it?"

He turned to look at her and the look in his eyes was deep and it disturbed her more than she ever thought possible. "Did you ever think about it? During that year? All those people dying, dropping like flies all around you? Being hunted every single second of every day, knowing that if someone actually saw you and they were the wrong people, you would be just as dead as most of the rest of the world."

Her jaw dropped. How could he be asking that to her? "I thought about death all the time. Not the actual thought of just let me die and get it over with, but more let me live just this next minute so I can keep on going. But yeah, I thought of death a lot. I had no choice."

"How many times did you think that it was too hard? That dying would be easier. Just get it over and done with and end it. End the pain, end the misery, end the loneliness. To stop the endless motion of hiding to save your life, to stop being afraid of what was around every single corner. To stop being a soldier. To stop trying to be the hero. To just leave me and your own family and just die, because you just couldn't do it any longer."

Tears formed in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let the Doctor make her cry again. "I never gave up. Not once. And yeah, it was hard, and it was scary and it was lonely and I never knew what was around the corner, but I knew I had to do it, that it was the only way to not only save my family and you, but to save the world. And I could never give up on that!"

He stood up so fast it startled her back a few steps. "Oh, that's nice to know. All I'm good for is giving up? Well, fine! You're so much better at this than I am, go ahead and do it. I'm leaving. See how much you like it when it is all you do, when you can't escape it. Have fun! I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

This time she did begin crying. She knew the Doctor was upset, but did he have to take it out on her? Without thinking, she smacked him hard across the face. It was then that Donna grabbed her and stopped any more harm being done.

She wiped furiously at her eyes, just in time to see Jeremy put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and steer him towards an empty room not too far away. Martha hoped in that moment, that Jeremy gave him Hell.

"You alright?" Donna asked her.

She didn't know what to say to that, so shook her head. "Not really, no. He's contradicting himself though. He doesn't mean it, and I know that but...it doesn't stop that from hurting like hell."

Donna frowned and nodded, and Martha only saw understanding in her eyes. "He gets like that when he's hurt. He turns everything into anger, that one. He's done the same thing to me. He'll apologise for it later. He does to me at any rate. Probably because he knows I'd bloody hurt him more if he doesn't."

Nodding, Martha turned to where he sister had started off the fight, and found her gone. She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes again. "Where did Tish go?"

"Jeremy sent her in with your mum and brother. She was a bit upset too."

Sighing, Martha nodded, not feeling up to joining her family just then. Instead she sat down on one of the seats and stared at the door. "Everything's falling apart. What happened?"

Donna shook her head, sat down next to her and pulled her in for a hug. "Dunno. You'll find out soon enough though."

"Yeah. Soon enough..."

It couldn't come fast enough for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Nearly all the Doctor's backstory in this series will be made up. Just a little warning there, though when canon can come into it, I will use it.

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Chapter Two

"Sit," Jeremy stated, leading him towards a chair which, with a rather loud thump and a dull pain in his rear, he sat down on.

He wasn't really paying much attention to how he got to the room, he had been too preoccupied with having been slapped again by Martha. It looked like a small version of the big and spacey room that Jeremy had over at the place he was normally used to seeing when stuck in a room with the man. "I'll never be able to take back what I said to her, will I?"

"No, you won't. But you can apologise, and she can forgive you."

Frowning, he nodded. Yeah, forgiveness, that was all he needed in life. He didn't need friendship, or people not to hit him, or to feel good about himself. No, all he needed was to be forgiven. Then his life would be the shiny ball of something it had never been before.

If only it were that simple. But, to him, nothing was. Ever. He was a cosmic joke and the universe could do nothing but laugh at him slip up and make a fool of himself. He blinked. "Great... You know, before I got that phone call I was the happiest I had been in a long time and now I feel worse than ever. I'm cursed to never feel good for longer than an hour at a time."

Jeremy shook his head. "I'm sure that's not true. You would probably still be in a good mood if it wasn't for bad news."

Nodding, the Doctor waved his hand in the direction of the therapist and grinned. "That's my point. I can't escape bad news. It follows me around like...like something that follows something around that is bad."

"Surely not everything is bad in your life."

Huffing out in what should have been amusement, the Doctor shook his head. "The only good things I have are the people I travel with and one of them is Martha. She's not too pleased with me, and neither is Donna, definitely not Tish...no one likes me anymore. No friends, no family, no planet, no home. I have nothing..."

He wasn't going to cry, damn it. He'd done enough of that to last this lifetime in the past few weeks. He didn't need to continue doing so. He had the odd urge to hit something then. Hit something and keep on hitting until either his hands were broken, or whatever he was hitting was. Energy coursed through him and he jumped to his feet. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore! I'm so damn angry right now and I don't know who at, or why, and damn it _I want to_ _break something_!"

With that last said, he slammed his fists into the table, felt the sting of the move and did it again. He was expecting Jeremy to stop him, and he was stopped. He wasn't expecting being gently herded over to a punching bag he hadn't noticed tucked away in a corner. It wasn't a proper one, as it was squishy instead of hard, and soft on the hands, but it looked right from a distance.

It didn't do anything to stop his anger. If anything, it made it worse. He needed that sting. He needed to hurt. He yelled out and turned back to the table. When Jeremy put a hand on his shoulder to steer him back to the punching bag again, he hit him. And just like that the anger stopped, changed to horror at what he had just done. He hadn't hit him hard enough or in the right place to break his nose, but already a bruise was forming on one of his cheeks. He hadn't heard a crack which he thought was good. Breaking the therapist wasn't such a good move.

"I'm sorry! _I'm so, so sorry_!"

Jeremy nodded and this time the Doctor went quietly with him, when he was led over to the seat again. "Sit."

He sat. He was going to be locked up, he knew it. He was actually going to be sectioned for this. It was a long time in coming. He'd been quite mad for a long time. Not as mad as the Master, thankfully, but still quite nutty.

"Did you read the pamphlets?"

He blinked. What? No section looming over his head? Just a question that was quite easily answered. "No. I left them in your office."

"I gave them to Martha to give to you. She may still have them. Things were rather hectic after you left. You had everyone rather worried."

He grimaced, but calmed down slightly. He didn't seem to be in trouble, even though he had just hit someone. "Yeah. Like I said, I don't know what I'm doing any longer. I feel I have no control over my life any longer."

Jeremy nodded and leaned forward, staring at him for a bit. It made him uncomfortable, so after a few minutes he looked away. It felt like these minutes were lasting forever. "I'm concerned for you right now, Doctor. Your state of mind right now is not a healthy one. You're lashing out at everyone, verbally and now physically."

And the being sectioned he had worried about earlier seemed to be made reality again in his mind and that was when he started crying again. He didn't want to be locked up...he was too flighty for that. "I don't want to. I hate it, I hate this! And now I'm crying again. Why am I always _crying_?"

"You're crying because you hurt, Doctor. The reaction is a normal one. I think you've been denying yourself the comfort and release that tears can bring for a long time and now that you started over the Midnight incident, you are finding it difficult to stop."

It was true, he knew it was true. He had shed a few tears over lost friends before, Rose, Martha, Donna even, when she had refused to come with him that first time and loneliness crept up on him, but he didn't fully break down. Then he remembered the deaths of three of his companions, the fake death of Peri he'd been shown when on trial for his life, all the absolute crap he'd had to deal with by his own people, the death of his own people and the wish that they'd once again start interefering with his life...

How utterly angry he had become the first time he had been put on trial for stealing the TARDIS and travelling with a lesser, inferior species. Oh god, Zoe and Jamie. Right then, what happened to them stung him the most. Because they would have forgotten about him, except for the time he had spent rescuing them the first time.

It must have haunted both of them for the rest of their lives, knowing something was missing but not having any way to remember what...

Jamie's leaving had left him feeling more inadequate then Zoe's leaving, since the boy had been with him much longer. He had travelled with Jamie most of his second incarnation. It had been quite a blow to lose both at once, and in such a way.

He hadn't gone back to ask about either of them. Zoe would have led a rather quiet life, he thought. Her job helping all on board the Wheel from which she had stowed on board the TARDIS from. But Jamie...Jamie he had no idea. The Time Lord's had set him down and almost got him killed right away. It was possible Jamie hadn't lasted a few days, let alone the rest of his natural lifespan.

Silent tears were soon joined by sobs, his whole body rocking with them. How could he have never gone back and checked on them?

He needed to know. He needed the comfort of knowing that Zoe had lived a long life helping with mankind's exploration of space, while Jamie lived long enough to at least reach his home. Please, oh god, please say he made it...

"Made it where, Doctor?" came the voice of Jeremy, but too caught up in his own misery, the only answer he could give to something he hadn't even known he had spoken aloud was a shake of his head.

He wasn't able to stop himself. At all. He only stopped when he had exhausted himself past the point of tears. He laid his head on the table and felt himself wishing for sleep. A box of tissues was pushed in his direction.

He decided as he yanked out several tissues, that anyone who said that crying was comforting or could be felt as a release of feelings were lying through their teeth. He felt worse now than he did before he had started. His nose was runny, his eyes hurt him, he had a headache and his mood had dropped even lower than it had been.

"Doctor, how are you feeling?" Jeremy asked him, after his face was presentable.

He grimaced and shook his head. "Bad...tired. Can I go to sleep now?"

"I'm told that you slept for a bit out in the hallway, before all the fighting started. Donna told me while you and Martha were yelling at each other. She was worried that you've been sleeping too much."

He shrugged. "I had only 2 hours sleep before then, and was woken by Tish calling. That's not too much sleep. That's too little."

"She's worried that this has sent you into Depression. Or will send you into Depression."

He shrugged again. "So? Wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

"Doctor...how old were you when it happened the first time?"

He almost asked when what happened the first time, but knew that it wasn't the answer to give. He didn't want to give an answer. He'd been far too young, his own people had pushed it aside as him just begging for attention. It didn't endear him to his people very much. It was probably one of the things that got him named trouble maker before he had even finished school. And definitely through his adolescent years.

"Doctor...I'm guessing you were rather young by your silence."

He nodded at that. "Yeah. Young would be the answer to that one. I'd also add on very."

"Your people are a long lived race. When were your people declared legal adults?"

"Usually roughly around 100, 110 years old. Depending on when they finished their schooling."

"So anything under 100 is classed as young for your people. Very being, what, anywhere under 50?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It was a long time ago."

"Doctor...when does a Time Lord's rate of aging stop being like that of humans?"

Sighing loudly, he sat back and angrily rubbed his aching eyes. "Usually when we are through the worst of puberty. Still adolescent, but over the 'rough patches' as they called it. Some were late bloomers, some were early. Some you could run a clock off. They went by those you could run a clock off. Usually roughly the age of 16 or 17."

"Where did you fall in this...categorisation?"

Grimacing, he shook his head. "I was unlucky enough to be in the early section. 11 years old...the other boys were at least 12. I had a year of that crap before other boys started talking to each other about it, and going off to read on what was happening."

"Why didn't you go and read up on it? Weren't there lessons?"

He actually managed to laugh, in humour at that. "What? Stuffy old set in their ways Professor's, teaching young students about something like that? Hell no! We just had to look it up ourselves, but it was safest to do that in groups and ask one of the people in the Libraries for relevant information."

"And why didn't you look on your own? Because it wasn't safe?"

He grimaced and shook his head. "Not really. Apart from lesson work and whatever I was studying, I wasn't welcome in the library to borrow out books. I stole them sometimes though, and yeah, bad, I know, but I was bored a lot. I could read in there on my own free time though."

"Then why didn't you do that?"

He closed his eyes. "You are asking a lot of questions about this. Why?"

"Because you're at least answering me now, and it is all relevant. It was a bad time for you. You just stated that yourself. You couldn't talk to anyone, you had no idea what was happening, and you didn't know what to look up and didn't bother asking anyone. Why didn't you ask someone?"

"Because they wouldn't have believed me. Thought I may have been talking to boys in a higher year then mine to find out the signs...that sort of stuff."

He could see the beginnings of confusion cross over Jeremy's face. He grinned. "Depression in my race, was something people only developed when they reached at least half way through their regeneration cycle or if they couldn't regenerate, half way through life. Only Time Lord's were given the power to regenerate, it's not a racial ability."

He saw Jeremy blink and a quick flash of understanding flash through the man's eyes. The Doctor winced at the sight. He had just given away at least partly just how young he had been.

"It was before you reached puberty. How did you learn of it, so young, when it must have been something not talked about?"

He shrugged, hoping that it came off as not worried. "I was disruptive in classes. Wouldn't do my work. They thought I may not have fully been weaned off my parents like all the other children and sent me to the counsellor, but that wasn't the problem. It started after that, just before I started in the Academy."

"You were 8?"

He nodded. "Yeah. 8. Very young. In my species, completely unheard of. They couldn't understand that I wasn't acting the way I was because I missed my parents, or because I wanted attention. I really needed help and support and they threw it in my face! I was told what Depression was in Gallifreyan terms, was called a liar and a cheat and thrown out of the office to never return, no matter what I did. That happened when I was 10."

"What did you do after that?"

He grinned again, but it had nothing to do with humour that time. "What any child who had been dealing with something so big and scary and no adult believed them. I decided I didn't need any adult's help. I went to the nearest bathroom and smashed a mirror, took a bit of glass and stared at it not knowing what the hell to do. I was afraid of pain, but I was so full of it. I remember thinking what I should do. Should I stab myself? Should I cut myself? Should I just put it down and damn well cry?"

Jeremy leaned forwards slightly at that. "What did you do?"

"I thought maybe if I cut myself it would let some of the pain out. And it wouldn't hurt as much as stabbing would. I left trails of little cuts all up and down one of my arms, but it didn't do anything except make me bleed everywhere. I ended up throwing the glass on the floor and bawling like a bloody idiot instead. Never did that again..."

Leaning back in his seat, Jeremy nodded. "I can understand why talking about things like this is so hard for you. And why it's taken so long for you to try again to reach out for help."

The Doctor knew right then he needed to get out of that room. He felt like he was suffocating and he needed fresh air and away from all this...talking. Why had he said so much, given so much of himself away like that, for nothing? He quickly got to his feet, the chair scraping across the floor.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore. I really, really can't. I've got to go. Bye. And thanks. Or...whatever."

"Doctor! Wait and sit back down for a moment. I'd like to talk about a few things. Afterwards, you're quite under your own control to walk out that door and never see me again, but I would like you to listen to me for a few minutes. Please?"

He wanted to go now, but it was fair that he let the man have his say. He let everyone else have a chance, why not this man too? He grabbed at the chair and dragged it back to the table, before sitting heavily on it, folding his arms across his chest and pouting at the table.

He refused to look at Jeremy, even if he did decide to listen.

"Good, thank you. Like I said before, I can understand how this would be hard for you. You are putting a lot of trust in me with information you haven't shared with anyone. That level of trust doesn't come easily to most people. I told you at the beginning that this wouldn't be easy, that it would be hard. I also said that we'd go at your own speed. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this situation with Leo has gotten you to push yourself past what you are ready to deal with because it is a situation that is traumatic to you and all involved, but is so in a way you haven't yet had to deal with."

He grimaced, but nodded. This situation with Leo had him so far out of his comfort zone he had no idea what to do. "Is that wrong? There's so much to deal with in my own head and now it's like everyone else's problems are piling on top of me too. I can't deal with this. So, I'm going to do this neat trick I have learnt through my life. And run. This is too much for me right now. I'm just getting over the whole Midnight thing. _I don't need this_!"

He slammed his hands down on the table again, out of frustration more than anger this time. He quickly shook them as pain made itself known. "Ow, that hurt..."

He got up to leave again, when Jeremy cleared his throat. "Doctor. One more thing..."

Sighing, he nodded his head. "What?"

"Have you ever kept a journal before? A diary?"

Blinking, he nodded. "A few, at different times in my life. Why?"

"I want you to start another one. Starting tonight. A half hour before you go to sleep, I want you to write down what you did or what happened during the day and how you felt about it. No lying. I want you to try and be honest with yourself. There's a shop in the hospital which sells diaries."

Crossing his arms, he glared at the psychiatrist and frowned. "Why should I do this?"

"Because you're not going to be here, Doctor, and right now, I feel you are on a very steep edge and someone is standing behind you. One shove and you will fall off, some pulling, and you can be back safe on your feet. The pull is the hard part, because you may find yourself hanging by your fingertips by the time you are helped back up. I don't want you to fall, Doctor, and I doubt that's what your friends want either. Do it for their peace of mind, if you won't do it for mine. You need an outlet. You need to say it, even if you can't right now. Writing can help, sometimes. Just, you can't lie."

He was going to refuse, but then remembered he was currently standing in this room, because of how worried Donna was of him. He closed his eyes and nodded. "Alright, I'll go grab a diary then."

Jeremy smiled at him, before pulling out a pen and a small piece of cardboard which he supposed was a business card.

"I'm giving you my mobile number. You can call me at any time, no matter whether it is night or day. The only time the phone is switched off is when I am with or about to expect a client. So, if I don't answer if you do call, try not to do anything until I can get back to you. I have voice mail, so leave a message for me."

Nodding again, he reached out and grabbed the card, looking at the number written on the back. Flipping it over, he saw he was correct, the number which was called to get in touch with his office was there, for appointment reasons.

"Don't forget the pamphlets! Martha has them."

Nodding again, the Doctor walked out of the room, a slight reluctance now moving over him, as he knew that to get the pamphlets, he'd have to face Martha. And right then, he was afraid that doing so would lead to another fight.

The hallway was now empty except for them, considering that visiting hours were over now and night was here. The hospital was in the stages of closing the canteen and gift shop, when the Doctor, looking like he was about to fall asleep on the spot, walked out of the room, fingering a card he held in his hand.

Martha froze upon seeing him, worried that he'd try to pick another fight with her.

She was sure neither of them wanted that, and as she saw how reluctant he was to come any closer to her, she knew he was feeling the same way as she was.

Throwing caution to the wind, she made a sound in the back of her throat to try and say what she felt, and failing miserably at it, she walked determinedly up to him, gave him a brief glance, before she pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. It was unfair on you to have called you here."

He went stiff in her arms for a few seconds, before loosening up and returning the hug. "I'm sorry too. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean to say those things to you, especially not in such a hurtful way."

They stayed in the friendly embrace for a minute, before they parted and the Doctor grimaced at her. "Umm, Jeremy wants me to start a diary. I need the gift shop for that and...well, it's kind of dark now."

Martha chuckled and shook her head. "Great timing, I was just thinking that the canteen and shop were closing. If we hurry, we might get there in time, otherwise I might have to get someone else to open it."

He frowned, but nodded at her. Taking his hand, she led him to the ground floor, where the shop was, just in time to see it in the process of having its doors closed for the night.

"Wait, stop! My friend needs to buy something. It's important!" she managed to get out, the Doctor looking very uncomfortable beside her.

"Martha, it can wait until tomorrow. It's not like I'm going to do anything too stupid between tonight and tomorrow morning..."

She looked at him, really looked, and what she saw she didn't like. "Doctor, you're more a wreck than me, and it's my brother who's in the hospital. What did Jeremy say anyway? Why a diary all of a sudden?"

The Doctor was shifting about, that was never a good sign. It usually meant he was trying to hide he had done something wrong, but didn't feel guilty over doing it. He'd ruffle his hair or rub the back of his neck if he was feeling guilty over something. And look at her with puppy eyes.

"What happened?"

He coughed and grinned a little, to try and soften what he was about to say. "I quit therapy."

Martha blinked. She hadn't been expecting that, mainly because she knew that even after running out of his last session, he had still planned on going. Or at least, it had seemed he was still willing to go.

"And what's the diary for?"

The Doctor shrugged. "He doesn't think I'm in a good state of mind and said to come down here and grab a diary from the shop so I could write down what happened today and how I felt about it..."

Sighing, Martha shook her head, but caught the look in the security guard's eyes. He quickly opened the shop again and let them in, probably thinking that the Doctor was a lunatic from the psych ward. Well, right then he looked the part.

She dragged him over to where the diaries were kept and he scrounged around both the lined and non lined diaries, locked and not locked ones too, until he chose one that made her smile. It was TARDIS blue.

It was also one without a lock, but she knew the Doctor could write one language she'd never be able to translate, so let him have it. If he felt comfortable enough writing in it than good.

Martha left the pay for it on the counter, with a note as to what happened.

"Oh, also, he told me to tell you that I should read the pamphlets from the other day but that you had them."

Oh. Yes, yes she did. Plus the ones for Donna. She had been reading through those ones herself, though she had already read some of what was in them, from things her mum had gotten.

"Well, there's no use me staying here then. Why don't you take me home in the TARDIS and we can go through them together. You me and Donna that is. She can keep the ones not for you, though you might want to read them yourself."

He nodded at her and she was quite suddenly aware that he was being all too quiet. He really must be as tired as he looked if he was being this quiet.

They made their way slowly back to the TARDIS, Donna waiting outside the ship, tapping her foot on the ground, an angry look on her face.

"Where did you two go?"

The Doctor walked over to the red head and smiled. It wasn't a very convincing move on his part.

"Down to the shop to get a diary. I've got 'homework'..."

Martha left those two to talk for a bit while she entered the room Leo was in, said bye to her mum and left them for the night. Come morning, she knew she'd be back. She soon joined the Doctor and Donna who were waiting inside the TARDIS for her. The coordinates were already set for her home.

She just hoped that's where they ended up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The TARDIS got to the right house, even at the right time, but they didn't do anything about the pamphlets by the time they got there. He was exhausted past the point of caring for anything other than sleep and Martha, seeing this, sat him down, got out his new diary and looked over his shoulder.

Was he supposed to write with her looming over him like that? What was he supposed to write anyway? That her looming was making him uncomfortable?

More importantly...did he have to start a personal diary like this one with Dear Diary?

He'd had diaries before, but none as personal as this. Most of his early journals chronicled his journeys and experiments, some he used mainly for field notes when he found something that interested him, but he had lost the flavour for it sometimes. He'd kept his 500 year diary, and his 700 year diary, but after that last, he hadn't bothered with it again.

Well, he decided to keep a title in there anyway, because it felt like it was doing the whole personal therapy diary thing right. And that's what he thought of this one he realised, as his new form of therapy. It's what Jeremy had told him anyway. That if he didn't go to sessions to write down his feelings instead.

He was too tired to really think properly, but since it was expected of him and he knew Martha would keep annoying him until he did it, even if it wasn't much, he started to write, in his home language so it didn't matter if she saw or not.

_Dear Diary,_

_You have no idea how odd it is to write those two words. And yes, it is odd to be doing this at all, but therapist's orders. _

_I have someone staring over my shoulder at the moment, so I am writing you in a language only I know, my home language. And I don't know why I am writing in you like you're a person. Maybe I'm really that lonely..._

_Well, anyway I was told to start this diary and write my feelings down on a daily basis, since I quit therapy today. Today has been rough. A family member of a friend, the same one looming over my shoulder in fact, tried to kill himself, and I got dragged in to the mess. Why, I don't know. Possibly to make me feel bad. And it does._

_I've tried in my life a few times too, and now I'm on the other side of the situation and it seems worse. Well, it's happened once before, with _

The Doctor stopped and frowned. There was no way of writing any names other than Gallifreyan names in his home language. For that matter, he had decided to just use Doctor at the end of the entries instead of his proper signature, just in case someone got their hands on it. With a glance at Martha, he wrote down the name of Turlough in English, knowing it would make no sense to her.

_Turlough, but he had a reason. He thought he was going to kill me if he lived, which turned out not to be true. And he was saved from his rather hasty self sacrifice by an enemy ship sailing through space (I lead a very odd life sometimes)_

The Doctor glanced at Martha again and sighed. "Do you have to look over my shoulder?"

Martha frowned at him and shrugged. "It's making you write. It's not like I can read anything except one word, and that word means nothing to me. What is a Turlough?"

"I can't do names that aren't of my people in my writing, it doesn't work. Turlough was a he, not an it. And he'd be angry with you for calling him such."

Martha blinked at him and sighed. "Just...write. You can even say nasty things about me if you want. Though I'd prefer it if you didn't."

He rolled his eyes and turned back to his new diary.

_I've been ordered by MARTHA to write. She can't understand anything other than the names, so she'll be thinking I am yelling at her. And good, let her think that. I'm not happy right now. She keeps looking over my shoulder and now she's frowning._

_I can't win. Not ever._

_Leo is her brother. He tried to hang himself in his bedroom and he would have left behind a girlfriend, a daughter and his blood family, including both his mother and father, and two sisters, one of which is Martha. _

_Yes, I did just write your name again, Martha, keep on wondering what I'm writing..._

_Anyway. I'm supposed to be talking about my feelings, but I keep getting distracted. Today has been hard. I think I've already said that though. Hard emotionally. I was in a good mood before I got dragged into the mess too, for possibly the first time since Midnight (and I'll write that part out later, when I have full privacy.)_

_I am angry over it, that much is definitely true. I hit Jeremy earlier today. He was my therapist. _

_I'm upset lately, all the time, and quite embarrassingly can start crying for no reason. I cried earlier today thinking of two of my past companions, just because it gave me something real to cry over. I'm really uncomfortable with showing tears to other people though, and so am finding this whole talking about my feelings and therapy a hard thing to deal with._

_Jeremy said I pushed myself too far today and that was why I quit. He let me quit anyway, though he gave me his number._

_Which leads me to my other main feeling right now. Confusion. Why would he give me that, when I flat out said I wasn't going to go to him anymore? And it wasn't just the number to his damned secretary (I don't like that boy, I really don't.) It was his personal mobile number._

_I think confusion is number one right now on that list. I'm so confused about so much. Why Leo would do what he did, when he had a supporting and loving family, why Jeremy gave me his number. Why I was called in the first place...none of it makes any sense! Leo isn't talking (he has a bruised neck, so it could be a few days before he can fully pain free anyway, so can't blame him there.) Martha didn't tell me anything other than she thought I should know and I left the room with Jeremy before I could even think of asking, like the idiot I was at the time._

_Yes, it was only five minutes ago. Well, closer to ten now. I've been sitting and thinking quite a bit, but it took five minutes after I got the diary to when I started writing._

_I think that's about it now, really. All I'm feeling right now that I know of._

_So, until next time, diary._

_Doctor._

He stared at the name he had chosen for himself when he had become a Time Lord and frowned at it, resisting the urge to scribble it out, because it didn't look right. This whole thing felt wrong. His whole life seemed nothing more than a cosmic joke...

He added that part in under his name as a little extra, before dropping the pen and turning to Martha.

He almost asked if she was happy, until he noticed that she was crying. He deflated then and moved forwards to pull her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I wasn't saying nasty things about you in there. No matter what it may look like. I just didn't feel comfortable with you reading what I was writing."

She shook her head and sniffed. "It's not that, Doctor! My brother tried to kill himself earlier!"

He felt like a fool for even forgetting that she would be hurt over it too, because he was suffering with his own problems. He hugged her even closer and sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry for that too."

"You forgot! How could you do that?" She sobbed at him, her voice too low to be classed as shouting, but the words coming across as though they should have been. And, by rights, she had every right to yell at him.

"I didn't forget what he did. I just...I'm dealing with a lot as it is and I dismissed how you would be feeling, and yes, that was wrong of me. I'm trying to understand why he did it, and I only met him once. But that once...he was a genuinely happy guy. I can't figure out how it happened like that when that's what I see in my head. I never really met him after that Year. I stayed outside when that reunion happened."

Martha didn't bother saying anything to that for a few long minutes. Her tears, much like his earlier that day, changed from quiet to loud and full of obvious pain.

All he could do in that moment was hold her until she settled down.

* * *

By the time Tom got home from the hospital himself, Martha was in bed, facing the door, hoping nothing bad had happened to him.

She knew it was a silly thing to fear, as the hospital wasn't far and the roads would be pretty much empty of traffic at the time, but still. Accidents, falling asleep at the wheel, him purposefully driving off the road to certain death...they all seemed in her mind quite possible theories.

The Doctor and Donna were using the spare room, both asleep as far as she knew, but she couldn't sleep. She was too worried to sleep.

Tom carefully opened their bedroom door, looked towards the bed she was lying in and sighed. "Hey," he whispered. "Saw the TARDIS. The Doctor and Donna are here too?"

Martha nodded. "Yeah, asleep in the spare beds. I got Tish to call them before I was allowed off to go check on Leo myself."

Tom nodded and moved towards the wardrobe, taking off his clothes and finding an old pair of pyjama bottoms to wear. Her heart sank. If he was wearing pyjamas it meant that there wasn't going to be any comfort sex. She had hoped he'd be willing to do that for her.

He crawled into his side of the bed, wriggled close to her and pulled her tight against him. "I'm sorry, love."

She knew he was talking about what happened to Leo. She moved her head in a position that made her able to feel his heartbeat and stayed there for the rest of the night.

She knew when he fell asleep. She knew when he woke up in the morning. And she knew because she didn't sleep herself. By the time it was breakfast, her eyes were sore and tired, her mood had plummeted to worse than it had been last night, and, judging by the way the Doctor looked, she'd be looking a right mess herself.

Donna made breakfast. Nothing too big, just toast and assorted jams, but it had been a nice thing to do for them all anyway. She ate one slice and that was it. That one slice was more than the Doctor touched.

Speaking of not having slept, she wondered if she had black bags under her eyes as big and impressive as the Doctor. She knew she felt how he looked: bone tired but unable to sleep. The only other time she had ever felt like this was during that year, but then it had been much more heightened and more out of fear for her life, rather than the fear and worry over her brother's. Her brother had flitted through her thoughts continuously during that period of time, as had the rest of her family and friends.

She had been too busy trying to survive herself to think too hard on them when it came to finding a place to bunk down for the nights. Or days as it so happened half the time.

It had screwed her sleep pattern up for months afterwards.

She didn't want to have to go through that again.

She wouldn't even think of the nightmares in case they started up again...

The entirety of breakfast was done in silence apart from the chewing of food. It almost made her angry enough to tell them all to chew silently so she could think. Not that she really wanted to think on anything too hard. Yet again, she kept on wondering if Leo would speak or not today.

She hoped he did. The quicker he told Jeremy why he did it, the quicker he'd get out of the hospital.

Still, he had hours left of suicide watch to go, poor guy.

Suicide Watch. Two words she never thought she'd hear for anyone in her family, let alone Leo, who was possibly the happiest of the lot of them.

She got up, made her way upstairs back to her room, collapsed onto her bed and held on for dear life to her pillow as guilt swept through her. Had she done or said something to have made him do it? Was it her fault? She should have thought more about him during that year.

She heard the door open and felt the bed dip a bit at her side, but she didn't want to turn over to see who it was. Right then, she didn't care, but she knew she didn't want to get lectured on her behaviour. She was sure right then, she'd lash out in anger over it.

"Hey, I'll call the hospital to let them know you won't be working today. Get some sleep, love," Tom said behind her, quietly and calmly, and she nodded.

"Thanks Tom. I don't think I'll be any good for anything today. I think I'll just sleep."

"Alright. You want me to leave a message for your mum?"

She shook her head, not bothering to say anything about that, knowing if she did try to contact her mum, there'd just be a fight right then.

She was kissed on the top of her head and her shoulder was given a loving squeeze, before Tom left the room. She sighed loudly, got up, dressed in her own pyjamas and went to bed.

She was out like a light in minutes.

* * *

Donna watched as the Doctor, for the third time in two minutes, let out a huge yawn. This time he added in a bit of rubbing at the eyes for good measure.

Donna rolled her own eyes at him. "Go to bed. You're falling asleep on your feet."

He shook his head and frowned at her. "I'm fine...just a tiny bit tired. I didn't get any sleep last night, but you know I can go much longer without."

She folded her arms and tilted her head in the most dominant and mothering way she possibly could. It wasn't easy when she didn't feel that way towards the Doctor. He was more a brother than a son. "I also know, Spaceman, that you're supposed to sleep at least 3 hours a night. So, get going."

With a sigh, which turned to a yawn, and another rubbing of his eyes, the Doctor gave in. "Fine. But I'm sleeping in the TARDIS and not out here!"

She nodded at him. "Fine. Just don't go anywhere without me, or I swear I will hunt you down."

He grinned at her and she could see that it was genuine. "Hah! I don't doubt it. Alright, no swanning off for me. Just some rest, relaxation and maybe afterwards some tea."

Happy with the arrangement, she smiled at him, and gave him a gentle nudge in the direction of the TARDIS. "Just try to sleep. That's all I'm asking, Doctor. I don't like seeing you this tired. It's not right."

He nodded at her, and let out yet another huge yawn. "Blimey! Think I will sleep for a bit. Don't get into too much trouble out here and try to avoid fighting with Martha."

"I'm not going to start any fights, Doctor, don't worry. Go to bed, you silly Martian."

He gave her another grin, before disappearing into the TARDIS and, hopefully, heading towards his bedroom.

She was sure that the TARDIS would somehow get the message through if he didn't.

She wondered what she'd get the TARDIS as a gift, or a bribe if it comes down to it, to make her do so...

She was pulled out of her thoughts on what to get a time machine, by Tom coming back down the stairs and heading towards the phone. Should she go back in the TARDIS herself, or just stay out here and see if she could do anything. Where was Martha anyway?

Probably upset. She'd be upset to hear her mum or gramps had tried to kill themselves.

She didn't bother listening on to the conversation that Tom was having once she noticed it was the hospital he was calling. She got out of the same room, just in case he felt it was an invasion of privacy and found herself unsure of what to do.

She sat on the couch and stared blankly at the coffee table in front of her. There were a few magazines on there, a few medical journals and a remote which she figured was for the television.

She didn't want books or magazines or television right then. She wanted to get away, somewhere alien and strange and make a fool of herself. She'd like to go to a beach and relax on warm sand on a hot day. She'd like to do those things with the Doctor, but he seemed unlikely to leave any time soon.

One thing she knew about that man. He always decided to take on the troubles of other people, with enough emotional weight with his own problems on his shoulders. Yet again, he did know this Leo, or had at least met him once. So, maybe it had come as a shock to him to hear the news and he wasn't here solely to help Martha and her family through it.

He definitely was shocked enough over it to not have slept last night, which, by the looks of it, ws much the same reaction Martha was having.

Donna almost jumped out of the seat when Tom appeared at her side and sat down, scrubbing at his face with his hands. "Martha's gone to sleep. It will be a quiet day and while she has the day off, I've still got to get to work. I don't want to leave her on her own though. Are you and the Doctor staying for the day?"

Nodding, she patted Tom on the knee. "Yeah, we're staying. The Doctor just went to bed himself. I'll help out if Martha wakes up, don't worry about that."

He nodded and sighed. "At least she won't be alone in the house. I'm worried about her."

"Think it's been a bit of a shock to everyone. Still, the Doctor should wake up in a couple of hours, and then there will be two people here with her, so definitely not alone in the house. We'll look after her. Go to work."

Tom nodded, tried a smile at her which looked completely faked, before he went off to work for the day. At the hospital. The hospital where Leo, brother of Martha, was lying in a hospital bed. Damn bloody scary places were hospitals.

She picked up the remote and switched on the telly.

It was going to be a long and boring day for her.


End file.
